On our second day in Brussels we headed away from the center of the city to see the botanical garden. It is a fairly small park, but wonderfully maintained with flowers, trees, and a small pond. One tree was particularly striking.

When you looked closer, the bark reminded me of lava, and looked like it was flowing down around the branches…

The leaves and seed cones looked like a prehistoric tree.

And then there were the flowers. So many flowers.

There was also a small pond with turtles sunning themselves on the rocks.

After a pleasant walk through the botanical garden we continued to the beer museum, stopping for lunch along the way. Of course, we saw plenty of stained glass and Gothic cathedrals.

As we headed back toward the center of town I captured this image of the blending of old and new. A dead tree is covered in lush green ivy. Probably a metaphor about our world today somewhere in there, but I just like the picture.

As we started out this morning we came across several gatherings that seemed to have a cultural theme, so we looked into it when we got back to the hotel. Turns out that May 21st is World Day for Cultural Diversity. And by early evening it was definitely a celebration of diversity … especially the celebration part. The streets were absolutely packed with pounding music on every street corner.

The theme was cultural diversity, but this last picture captures just how much we all have in common. Early in the afternoon we came across a Turkish celebration with music and dancing. At least the young girls were dancing and having a great time. But the young boys were not nearly as enthusiastic.

Some things are the same everywhere.